Welcome to the middle path

Sporadic photos and notes from a Psyche-midwife, cheerleader, anthropologist--aka clinical social worker in therapy practice. Photos are usually mine except for those of historical events/famous people. Music relevant to the daily topic is often included in a web video embedded below the blog. Click on highlighted links in the copy to get to source or supplemental material. For contact information, see my website @ janasvoboda.com or click on the button to the right below. Join in the conversation.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Tiny Resolutions January 8th: Give Yourself a Break

Day is down, gone the sun...

It's apparent 2015 is not going to be my year to write a daily resolution in January. I started a new job in November-- just a temporary one, a sort of sabbatical from my private practice, a grant I will tell you all about if you message me. The short story is I am working 50 hours a week for a while, and the last 12 hour days have kicked my booty.

The name of this blog, Door Number Two, is a nod to my dedication to the middle path. It's important one not be too easy but also not too hard on oneself. We do the best we can in our circumstance, even as we strive to be better. Self-compassion is one of our most challenging tasks. Yet we shouldn't consider ourselves exempt to the Golden Rule.

I hope to have at least a few more good challenges before the month is over. But until about Dec. 25th I hadn't planned to do it at all. So if I get 15 out, I'll see it as the middle path, and if I get 31 out and half are late, I'll be grateful that I tried.

Hopefully some of you, especially my European readers, for whom I tried to post right after midnight so that they would have a full day, will already have ended their day and have succeeded in this challenge for self-compassion without even having been given it. May it be so that at some point in the day you allowed yourself to be human without recriminations.

If not, as with all of these resolutions, any day is a good day to give them a try.